The Nativity

This is the first year that Maya has had any interest in the Christmas decorations. She was so excited when we were putting them up, and kept saying, "Mom, you are decorating the whole house in Christmas, I love it!" After a little talk about how she can look at the Nativity scene all she wants to, but this is something she can't touch, I found her here.

Learning to Tie a Tie

I had to capture this moment. Troy is trying to teach Alex how to tie a tie. Up until this point Alex has always just kept them tied, loosened them, and slipped them on each week. Troy is determined that Alex learn how to do it himself so he doesn't need to do that anymore.

A Mouse?

We found a cute little mouse in the garbage can in our garage. It was just outside the door to our house, which was a little disturbing. I noticed it earlier in the day, but was too scared to pick up the garbage can and do anything about it. When Alex came home, he took care of it. I had showed him to Ethan and Maya, and they both thought he was cute. The next day this was the conversation at breakfast:

MAYA: "Did you see that mouse in the garbage can?"

MOM: "Yes."

MAYA: "He sure would be tasty for some cat to eat, especially a big one like Grandma Pam's."

Personality?

Troy and I have spent some time wondering this week where our children get their personalities (and sometimes attitudes) from. We are both pretty quiet people, yet we have 3 children that NEVER stop talking, singing, performing, running around. We hope that it is because they are happy, that they love their lives, and know that they are loved. Because they are, more than we could ever say!

Snow!

Today we received the first significant snowfall of the season. Ethan was VERY excited for it, and couldn't wait to go out and build a snowman. After going through all of the work of getting the snowclothes out, and getting him bundled up, Mom was sure that he would be back in within 5 minutes. I was so wrong! He stayed out for a few hours and worked hard on building a snowman. Dad got home from work and went out to help him finish it up. It was awesome. We didn't get a picture of the finished product because it was too dark.

Dress Up

I had to put this picture on here even though it is hard to see (those big windows are nice to look through but make it hard to take pictures!) Maya and Mayci were playing dress up and this is what they ended up with. They are so funny when they play together.

Alex's Friends

Alex had some friends over for a late night. Alex decided that they should have a Twinkie eating contest. They were all for it. A.J. (in red) was the winner by far. These guys are so funny, I didn't think that 13-year-old boys could laugh as much as girls do, but they laughed for 3 hours straight. They are great kids.